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Show 1HE PROVO POST wm r - way, with an irrepressible spice of elation In Esthers carefully controlled tones, that he was about to be made head of the 8ands Memorial, and that he had better come right over to discus details of his appointment with Mrs, 7 SandA ; mmim WOODDOW. -- AUTHOR OF THE SIU VER BUTTERFLY," SAL LY SALT, THE BLACK PEARL, ETC NOVELIZED PROM THE SERIES OP PHOTOPLAYS OP THE SAME NAME RELEASED BY PATHS EXCHANGE. .KMrv. w V o , chap to act as his assistant, and really pun the show. A live wire like your, husband, especially with his city experience, would just about fill the bill. Do you suppose, Mrs. Bullard, that the doctor would consider an offer of that . kind? v Esther dropped her eyes to conceal the gleam of eagerness In them. ; !T really dont know, She plaited her , skirt thoughtfully between her fingers. How much would ths position be worth? Im afraid not more than twenty-flvhundred dollars. The man spoke apologetically, never dreaming how narrowly he escaped an ecstatic hug from the demure young woman beside him. "George had told her' that they would be extraordinarily- lucky If he took In 11.000 on his first year Puppets of Fate. r Doctor George Bullard, and hammer la hand, stepped hack to survey the neat, sign .Which, he bad Just affixed to the side Of the white cottage with its vine of June roses clambering up over the screw-drive- black-lettere- d floor. The cottage was new so new that the fresh, white paint upon it was hardly dry. Even the doctor was new, as shown by the touch of boylHh ex- aberance with which he slipped his arm about the waist of his brand-newife and drew her to him. But the lign was the newest of all. bride Isnt it beautiful! the -young breathed softly. Bullard made no answer in words, . but oblivious to the inquisitive neighbors who might be peering at them from behind closed window-blindbent down and kissed her on the lips, Its like nailing one's color to the Masthead,' isnt it? She clutched a bit excitedly at his arm. Oh, Gedrge, ire simply cant leti ourselves fall aow. Weve got to make good! ::t Small chances of failure, with you to spur me on. This sitting down and waiting for patients is going to be leuced tough on a fellow that was kept as busy as I was at the hospital. Perhaps though 'A shrill cry of terror caused them both to turn, startled, and they were horrified to see a passing touring-ca- r knock down a little girl who was attempting to cross the Street Almost immediately the owner of the machine had brought It to a halt and leaping out caught up his little victim in his arms. He glanced about him wildly a moment; then as he caught sight of the freshly hung sign upon the front of the cottage he hur-- , i - e - - She succeeded in concealing ; golden-halve- T True, the lady herself had made no such promise as that, nor had indeed bound herself in any way; yet, when the doctor arrived, stalwart and good to look at in his crisp business suit, and greeted her in that frank boyish fashion of his, she let the statement stand' unchallenged. . Her face lighted up with animation, and seating herself close beside him at a table, she rang for her secretary to bring her the drawings submitted by the architect and commenced to ask his opinion on them - In fact she so monopolized the doctor that Esther was practically excluded from the conversation, Ill leave you to find out for yourself, Mrs. Sands, that I spoke only the truth when I told you that George M exactly the man you need she said lightly as she drew her furs up about her throat ; Sylvia started slightly and made a courteous protest against her leaving hut the manner of It was plainly perfunctory and with the closing of the door upon the wife, there came into her face an expression which could hardly be translated otherwise than as satisfaction. As she came back to the table and bent once more over the plana, her hand strayed with apparent unconsciousness until it touched the doctor s and rested against , But Bullard, intensely interested in questions of drainage and ventilation and details, of the sort, was too absorbed to notice and after a moment she jerked her hand away with a flash of anger in her eyes When he rose to leave and took her hand at parting, she did not immediately withdraw it from his clasp. We shall have to see a great deal ot each other from now on, I suppose, doctor she murmured, and then after a pause added, for the good of the d from home now for two months and the excuses for his continued absence were getting worn threadbare. The final evening Mrs. Sands and he had chosen to spend together, away from their nsual associates and companions. and after a delightful dinner hotels alone at one of the they went to the opera. Sylvia was undoubtedly at her best that evening. On tbe way borne she bad brought up tbe .question of the Interior arrangement for the north pavilion ot the proposed hospital long a source of stubborn contentlon them and had rather intimated that she was converted to his judg-- ; ment, an opening which gave the doctor an opportunity to dilate on one of , up-tow- n - hiapettheories. He ivae still full tilt on It when the limousine stopped In front ot her hand- it i 1 ; ried forward. ..Are you the doctor T be Questioned L sharply. Bullard yes, Why, but I am just moving in, and hardly In shape to look after patients yet. The hospital is only about eight blocks farther on, and half-hesitate- He halted as he felt Esthers band on his arm in eager protest The doctor means, she interrupted quickly, 'that it will take too long to reach the hospital with an emergency case like this. Here let me have the poor, little dear, relieving the man of his pathetic burden, and Starting toward the house. Almost without knowing how It was Bone, the doctor found himseif In his white Jacket, and all that he required splints, bandages, cotton, hot water at hand as he needed them. The little girl was too shaken and excited to tell clearly who she was or where she belonged, - hut somehow, Esther, amid all her other services, managed to obtain the desired information, and then since the child still 'refused to be parted from her, she carried It in her arms while the owner cf the car drove them carefully across ; : 1 -r A fAv - .- vufVy ' I -- gray-green- ' ' .. t v., ; V'.. ! ' tj'.' ' (t v j ' r - i l VVVi . . iL Let half-blankl- ? , If I V iiy. 'M i fv ' ; vs Mr i.v us Talk Things She Said, Over.1 -- town and permitted her to explain matters to the trightened mothers-born- e doctor, ' that husband' ot - the man responsible for ths-yfl'.ra, oil.' t pronounced gratefully, as ue '" ' .drove nor back home. But T Doctor Esther nodded, e," lard is tine m an emergency 'lou're just moving to Mortentown aren t you? the man turned to her ds Has you-buit struck by a sudden idea gray-bear- a ; ' rl ana practiced anywhere elseT in Eoitiuiore.'' she responded, and hcjic.i tnat she was not stretching the truth loo tar. George bad. done some outside charity wqrk while serving as an interne at the hospital. "Why?" Well, 1 was just thinking of something.' the man hesitated- - Im the superintendent of the gas company, you know, and we have a physician to look after our men. The old' fellow who's got the job has kind ot run to gceo. and Ive been wondering tor ; d j --S- he . good-lookin- g vine-covere- d - cant be delayed, and sha will have 4 back with a - v . no other way. exclama- half-suppress- He turned to the waiting nurse, tion. Get her In on the table, he directShe was lying on the bed asleep in a Ill be ready as soon as you pose that was. characteristic of her, ed. ; are. breast her hands crossed upon her hut even so, he had almost to look j Ten minutes later he entered the twice to make sure that it was really operating room in his white gown and she, so pale and emaciated did she mask, drawing on his rubber gloves as ' te came. . Doctor Davie stepped for-look The noise of his entrance bad awak- - i ward and surveyed him searchingly. ened her, however, and she opened her j Steady aa a rock. Bullard held You need eyes to stare half incredulously a mo- - ; his hand out for Inspection. ment Then, with a glad little cry. have no fear of me. shq sprang up and came toward him. j None of them hut admired his won-Goo- d l. As he stood there heavens! Yon are ill! he ex- - derful me tor the anesbeside the let claimed." didnt table, waiting you Why - , thetic to take full affect, there waa not know? Well, I didnt want to spoil your vacation, she panted. "I am going to examine yon tor self-contro- take part At last though, he could defer his return no longer. He had been away everything half-awaken- . - her feel- y - ings, however some town house facing the park, and - That teems rather small, don't you as be bad one or two points be still think? she murmured, and the upshot wished to make clear to her he folof it was that she came into the house lowed her, almost as a matter of, ; with cheeks flushed and eyea dancing r course, in at the door. with excitement laid out a little supper of butler Tbe she exOb, George! George! chicken and champagne and then withclaimed.'; Was there ever such a drew at a word of direction from her. stroke of good fortune? Youre going Yon need not wait up tonight, Robto be offered the post of surgeon for she said. erts, the gas company at a salary of three was all delightfully intimate and It thousand dollars a year. Informal and Bullard Insensibly yieldEsther was a proud and happy worn-- , ed himself to the spell of the 'secluwoman shei an, and a proud and happy sion of his surroundings. Doctor But remained throughout the succeeding hospital. did most of the talking- ,- Mrs. lard ' Bullard left 'the house with a , five years of their married life. Bands merely listened appreciatively sense of danger. He was The doctors auspicious start proved, and wove tbe spell of her enchantno flash in the pan, but the firing of almost of a mind to throw over the ments as she lounged In a heap of a scintillating train which wen leap- position she offered him. But as he cushions. considered Its advantages and what it ing on from success to success. Im too comfy to move, she said at Bullard had commenced to special- meant to his career, be decided that Would you mind filling my length. ize as a surgeon. Even at medical he wonld be a fool to give up such a me? for glass I school he had been noted tor the chance. Then as he leaned over to take her Still It did not increase his equa-steadiness of his hand, and the skill empty glass the nearness of her afWith which he handled the knife. Yet nimlty to find Esther, when he entered v fected him like an intoxication, and no one at the old P and S neither his their living room at home, playing the preceptors nor fellow students would ever have dreamed ot predicting an especially brilliant career for him. conscientious; Steady, t dependable, those were the terms they would have applied to him. How was it then, that he became known as at twenty-eigh- t the author of the celebrated Bullard operation, and chosen as the directing head of the great memorial hospital which Mrs. Syjvia Sands was proposing to erect to her deceased husband? Again, ...mu the French proverb has It, In' this case, Cherchex la femme. Cherches lEsther. for Ever she was on the look-ou-t some way to further his fortunes and advance? his standing; so, when sha saw in. the paper that the great hospital for which James L. Sands had left by will a portion ot his millions, was to he erected at his birthplace, Mortentown, the suggestion at once came to her that no one was so fitted to take charge of the Institution as her "doctor." Esther had met Mrs. Sands during one of the latters more or less lnfre qnent visits to Mortentown; for the Junior of her late husband by many years, the restless young woman had in his lifetime hardly given the poor old millionaire a chance to draw a long breath, so perpetually did she keep J .. He Found Esther Obdurately Bet, him on the go. Now, her brief period of mourning over, Mrs. Sands frankly almost before '- - knew it he had her raged at the harsh necessity- - which old song, 'Then Youll Remember Me, on In his arms. the Mortentown. staid in piano. her quiet kept Good Gpd! he muttered hoarsely. Weve landed it, George, she ex-She was compelled to remain here for a year or more, and muddle her brains tilted happily. Weve landed It Arent Dont you understand? It is you 1 he added you going to tell me again that I'm love, yon I need! Bub over a dreary old hospital. bound to Esther, .Tam miserably, She was dolefully bewailing the un your good angel? " But the half frown on the doctor's ' Mrs. Sands eyes narwelcome prospect one afternoon when Mrs.' Bullard was announced, and brow did not lift, and trumping up the rowed a little and an impatient exclasnatching at any diversion, ordered excuse that he had a patient to visit, mation half escaped her lips. Let us talk things over, she said. ; her caller to be immediately shown In. be hurried away. Nevertheless that little suggestion Theres nothing more to say that I Esther made no secret of her mission but went directly to thf point. that his wife considered herself the can see, he shrugged his shoulders. What Is there in the situation to Mrs, Sands, she said with a charm- guiding spirit of .their partnership linhis create all this fuss about? If we love in down and rankled deep wonderI most the gered have ing naivete, ful husband In the world, and the very consciousness, and Mrs. Sands did not each other, why shouldnt we tell each other so and show it, too, for that man you need to take charge of this fail to discover It. demanded Mrs. Sands. She managed to Instill subtly Into matter B6W hospital of yours and make it a Bullard stared at her tremendous success. He ...can. relieve his mind the conception of Esther a u But you forget that 1 am not free, person who had you Of all the bother in connection a rather whne him. he never stammered. appreciated a rightly will and you with the plans, give Touf; She 'disposed of the barrier thousand valuable ideas and sugges- she herself a woman of far wider exSix tions which nobody else would ever perience and higher mentality recog- with a flick of her cigarette. nized at their true value his brilliant months at Reno will settle that. of. think ' Divorce! he started at the suggest Mrs. Sands stirred to a show of In- powers and attainments. The result was not hard to foresee. tion; evidently such a solution had terest. Hitherto ahehainever thought of anyone for the vacant post but Bullard spent more and more time in never occurred to him before. Then - from one Ue congenial and fascinating soc cty be ..book bis head "It will be like a some- - eminent-- -' blow In the face to her. he muttered. of Mrs. bants of the eastern colleges, I tell you shell never consent. "Why. this thing is making you al- had met Doctor Bullard, and I sain me to I thinkishe will " Mrs Sands lip most a George most stranger like everybody else had been I were If one a trifle cynically. For her sake curled day. laughingly favorably, .impressed with him. It Esther I you mst go to her and tell her the old of so sure not dear, you you. might be rather amusing, she reflected, should be turning Jealous of Sylvia truth; then for your own come back to be so closely . associated with a to mo and your work. Sands r man of his type. young, Not a suspicion did she have, though, The next morning Bullard started He has a national reputation, you know a the author of the JCullar l op- i that there was really any cause for for Mortentown Jully fort.tled by Mrs Nor. to be fair to Bullard, did Sands counsel and direction as to eration, put in Esther with a little worry. the setsuggestion cross bis mind at any what he was to do. touch of wifely pride, and that time that in his association with the He bad purposely not wired thehbur .... tled it woman he was the least bit dis- of his arrival, so it did not surprise ether Mrs. Sands rose impulsively from him that Esther was not at the station loyal to Esther the couch where she sat. Consequently neither of them was to meet him, nor yet that she did not come here 1 wonder If he could in way disturbed when it fell out come to the" door when he opened the right away, and talk things over with thatany the affairs of the hospital required gate and .walked up the path to their Can you get hold of me," she said. cottage. But when he him? waving her hand toward the George to make a visit to New York and, by a similar coincidence, Mrs, had searched all. over' the lower floor - stand telephone So it happened that the doctor, sit- Sands was to be there, at the same and failed to find her, he began to grow a trifle uneasy. Hurriedly he ting In his office, was almost bowled time. Esther it regarded mounted the stairs and pushed open sincerely announcement over to receive the as a' highly desirable arrangement. the door to her room; then stepped - . . a young some time. If I couldnt find - matter-of-fa- : j FIRST STORY and when she called up Mrs. Sands on and the telephone to bid her good-bwish her a pleasant Journey, she added the hope that she might see a good deal of the doctor during their joint stay. Together Mrs. Sands and Bullard did New York thoroughly Ten days or two weeks at the outside lie bad aet as the limit of his stay, but again and again bis departure was de-- , layed by the necessity of investigating some aew method of hospital efficiency in vogue. At least that is what be wrote to Esther, although, oddly enough, he falledl to mention that on each of these occasions Mrs. Sands bad arranged some excursion or gay event in which be was scheduled to ' made in qnlte a N - - from elephantiasis to housemaids knee, But all the time that he was applying ths stethoscope and putting her through various tests he was gripped with a chill knowledge of the truth. Thera was but one hope for her the Bullard operation. , I m going to send yon over to the hospital, my dear, be added lightly. "An old family doctor would probably order a flannel bandage on you and dose you up with prescriptions, but theres a condition I have fofand which it seems to me can be reached better IbyJhe, knife than anything else.. An operation? She looked up at him and paled slightly. "Oh, George, ' ta lt serious? Not In the least, with a man who understands kla business. I shall wire for Doctor Davie of Baltimore, naming an eminent specialist " He dispatched a telegram to Mrs. Sands resigning his position In con-- , f nection with the new bospltaL . Two days later, within an hour oil for the operation, and I the time-sejust as he himself was about to start for the hospital, Sylvia walked Into his office. "Doctor, she said, plunging into her subject before she even stopped to unloose her furs, we Just simply cant, let that resignation of yours stand, and; no personal question between you and' myself can be allowed to serve as for It Then he told her gravely of his ( wife's serious Illness and of the ex--t actions which her convalescence would ' place upon him. Oh, I am sorry! - She spoke with' every manifestation of shocked regret She rose as she spoke, gathering up her muff from the table where she had laid it But as she moved toward the, door she turned as if on a sudden im. , ' the Plana, tremor of a muscle, not tbe slightest uneasy movement to betray that ha waa under any strain. - From the nurse Bullard took ths She Asked His Opinion of , t keen, slender scalpel which aha handed him and held it poised for a moment, while with the other hand he drew the skin taut. Just atthe base ot the neck, above a plexus ot arteries and bloodvessels throbbing underneath. In that moment there recurred to a sentence he had once used at a clinical demonstration of his ophis mind f eration. The Incision must he quick, straight , and true as a rifle ballet, he had said. . , The slightest bungling, the least devithe line and the result is a catastrophe. . And suppose the unbidden question came he should bungle or deviate now? As In a flash he saw all tha vexing complications in which he was Involved swept away; no bogle of duty standing longer in hla path, bat a clear road to all that his ambition coveted and to Sylvia. - Did the dazzle of the vision momsn- tartly obscure hla eyesight, or did his hand tremble? He never knew, him- -' self. He only knew that a second later he was staring aghast at the result ot his handiwork, while Doctor Davie thrust him hurriedly aside In the fruitless effort to repair his blunation from pulse.. "Listen, doctor, she said, why make this thing so conclusive? You say that after Mrs. Bullard has sufficiently recovered you want to take her to California for four or five months." Very well, do so; bat that is no valid , reason for you to give up your post with the hospital. He hesitated a moment; then he shook his head. Oh, George, she pleaded, twining her arms about him, "I can give you dering. all the world, I can make you the . The next that he knew he found himgreatest surgeon of your generation. self aimlessly wandering through a Dont let yourself be led into such a wood about a mile back of tha hossacrifice, Dont stand by a decision pital, and he judged ho must have that yon will repent all the days of been roaming about a long timo, for ha to me! 8ee! I am ut- was wet to. the knees from plowing your ot the deep, terly abasing my pride. Come to me, through successive drifts when you will, how you will; only slushy snow, and shivering with the cold. promise that you will come.' You cant Slowly he awoke to the conadoua- let yourself sink to a level such as cess of what he had done, and In tha this She swept the small office with a -- gesture. Then her head was . depths of bis misery there came to by some trick ot association of against his breast, ths delicate per- him fume she exhaled rose to his nostrils. Ideas a memory of the and with It the old Infatuation which Instrument cabinet In his office and of tt had come to he theught he had cast off swept over the manner In which him. wave. . His arms tightened him like a was in It tho early days of his prao about her, and with a half articulate and Uce, Esther, hearing him bemoan Jumble of words he kissed her passionhis lack of adequate equipment, had, ately. ' The moments passed unheeded. taken the money which she bad pains- Time was forgotten. Then their takingly hoarded for her winter ward- and bought the cabinet without on oblivion was broken in by the jan- robe him know, going shabby all the letting staccato of bell. . ths telephone gling season ' through, yet with never a word With' a low, startled exclamation, Bullard stood back from the woman of complaint That was Esther, he reflected aland shot a quick, inquiring glance at always generous, the clock. It was fifteen minutes past ways always thinking of him instead of herthe hour set for the operation. self. And how had he requited her de- Again the telephone rang; but he votion? made no move to touch it, only staring Again remorse, black and bitter, enat it dumbly, apprehensively, as If him like a wave. gulfed fearful of the message that it bore. At He started up from where he had last, though, he forced himself with an effort to pick up the instrument thrown himself down on the wet and from the desk and lift the receiver Boggy ground and set off toward town, V like a madman. from the hook. And so at last he burst into his of- "Nothing done yet? Mrs. Sands Ace, and found Mrs. Sands there still him repeat in surprise. She re- - walUng for hIm He had jsns t0 80 on the tabl- yu aay- until that she would probably be forgottea there, had v Indeed forgotten all about her. But He paused a moment, then added: now, as he saw her sitting there in one Very well, tell her Ill come at once of his office chairs carelessly puffing And setting down the telephone be 5 caught up his greatcoat and hat Strug- - lurched t0Ward her Wlth B0methln8 of rung into the sieves of his coat he 7 7. jerked a quick direction over hta shoul-and terrlleL JJ1 lV Bhr1,1 W to Mrs. Sands. Walt here until I K.'t back. 1 must have a talk with" J? ' ' U'ott you" Then he hurried Out.: other side of the table. He covered the blocks vfrom hta Bullard stood staring at her with his h bmplt.1 with racing blood-shheaTy,,,, soeed "He was Informed by Doctor Go! he eroaked hoarsely, avie and the two local men who were mandlngly. iti act as. hta assistants that the paThen, as she hesitated, held by her rent had absolutely refused to let any-of fear, he half flung up his arm panic le but her husband operate, as if still more emphatically to repeat 'But it is Impossible! Bullard his injunction. recflllng Horn the very sugges-ton- . But the arm he raised Btopped I would never dream of operat-and fell helpless to his side the in a case where I was so vitally arm upon whose skilL and. steadiness Walt a minute he started he had prided himself. His face twist-eward the door of her room "Twill strangely, and the words he tried ik to her and see if I cant persuade to speak became a mere gurgle in his icr to listen to reasen. ' v v 7 throat, But for once he found Esther - Tilth a stagger he collapsed into a set, and after about fifteen chair, stricken by a sudden paralysis, .r.inutea of futile argument he rejoined his brilliant career over and finin' he. others with a shake of the head written, upon his record of .;id his hands spread out In surren- ment-a fitting retribution, der. pert But who was really guilty? There was nothing else but to conEND OF FIRST STORY, sent, he said. .The operation simply . - ; life-Co- me : highly-equippe- d v 7- half-runnin- g W , 1 - - - , , - 1 e!S?TC, 1 - 1 ot - c .. pro-'sta-i, half-wa- y g d d - |